NEW DELHI, February 3, 2026 — A video circulating online showing Indian Home Minister Amit Shah urging people to accept parliamentary laws is being falsely linked to recent university equity protests, fact-checkers say.
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The clip, shared widely on social media since late January, features Shah saying in Hindi: “It’s a law passed by parliament, and everyone must accept it. What does it mean that you won’t accept it? How can that be? This law is from the Indian government and will apply to everyone. It must be accepted.”
Authorities in India had proposed changes to University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations on January 13, requiring institutions to set up equity committees to handle caste-based discrimination on campuses. The new rules focus on protections for certain minority castes or tribes. However, protests erupted as students from groups not covered by the rules argued the regulations were unfair and did not ensure equal protection. India’s Supreme Court issued a stay on the regulations on January 29, citing concerns that the changes were “too sweeping.”
AFP and other fact-checkers found that Shah’s video predates the UGC regulations by nearly a year. Reverse image searches traced the clip to Shah’s official Instagram post on April 2, 2025, in which he was discussing reforms to Muslim Waqf land boards — not university rules. The Waqf bill aimed to enhance accountability of India’s large and wealthy Islamic charitable endowments, and Shah stated that the law would apply to everyone.
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A longer version of the same video was also shared by Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in April 2025. As of February 3, Shah has not made any public statements regarding the ongoing university protests.
The false linkage highlights how old political statements can be repurposed online to stir controversy during current events.